This application claims priority to European Patent Application Serial No. 12382204.1, which was filed May 24, 2012. This priority application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into the present application, to the extent that it is not inconsistent with the present application.
Internal combustion (“IC”) engines are typically configured to combust fuels such as gas, diesel, natural gas, or the like to drive a shaft. Such engines may be employed in a variety of applications ranging from automotive to industrial power generation. Recently, there has been a renewed desire in developing alcohol-fueled IC engines, specifically ethanol engines, owing to environmental and cost needs, along with a desire to reduce dependency on traditional fossil fuels. However, such alcohol-fueled IC engines generally require the alcohol to be vaporized prior to or during combustion to provide efficient, complete combustion resulting in the requisite expansion forces on the piston. Generally, the IC engines utilize ambient temperatures and the engine heat itself to provide heat for such vaporization.
In environments with low ambient temperature, however, a cold-start of the IC engine presents challenges. The ambient air may provide insufficient levels of heat to vaporize the alcohol, while the engine itself provides essentially no additional heat until it begins running. Fuel preheaters for cold-start are generally known and used in, for example, the automotive industry for low temperature cold-starts. Such known designs, however, suffer from a variety of drawbacks, such as requiring direct heating of a large portion of the engine, direct contact between the fuel and the heating elements, and the like.
What is needed is a cold-start system and method for an alcohol engine that does not suffer from these drawbacks.